In accordance with the known art, the tagging of animals for purposes of ready identification, tracking or monitoring of movements, etc has involved the use of a tag or the like means of a unitary kind having first and second portions held together, at or adjacent an extremity of each portion, by an expanding region in such a way that a distal extremity of a first portion can be passed through an aperture made in the ear of the animal, for example, with the overall tag then being arranged such that the expanding portion rests positioned through the ear and the respective first and second portions extend, at least to some extent, over the ear of the animal. Such a form of tag has enjoyed universal usage and is applied by taking an appropriate applicator or tool to make a hole in the ear of the animal (be it a sheep, cow, horse or in fact any type of animal, domestic or otherwise) just in from an edge thereof, then prising the respective first and second portions of the aforementioned tag apart so as to enable one of those portions to be inserted through the hole thus created, the two portions then being manipulated into such a condition that the expanding portion rests through the hole formed in the ear of the animal, thereby to allow the respective first and second portions to assume a substantially parallel configuration. It has been found, however, that such tags, despite their long-standing market acceptance, have nonetheless exhibited certain drawbacks or disadvantages. To be more specific, and by way of example only, there exists a significant possibility of such a tag or identification means being deliberately or inadvertently displaced or removed, as for example by the animal rubbing its ear—or for that matter the relevant part of its anatomy where any such tag is located—against any given surface, catching the ear on any form of obstacle, etc. As well, readability of an ear tag can often present difficulties.
It is an object of the invention to provide a tag which obviates or ameliorates one or more of the aforesaid difficulties.